Add Passion and Stir

Add Passion and StirBig Chefs, Big Ideas is the weekly Share Our Strength podcast about people who are changing the world. Each week, Billy Shore, the founder and chairman of Share Our Strength, has a conversation with a guest from the culinary world and an industry thought leader creating a thought-provoking discussion. As much as food has become a source of pleasure and celebration, it’s amazing how food is central to our health, environment, educational achievement, sustainability, and overall quality of life.

What is the media’s responsibility to keep us informed? WGBH president and CEO Jon Abbott and culinary personality and Milk Street founder Christopher Kimball join host Billy Shore in Boston to discuss the intersection of education, media and culture. “This is not about a sound bite, this about having a conversation with people,” explains Abbott about the role of WGBH, a Boston public radio station and member station of National Public Radio and Public Radio International. Kimball agrees with the importance of the media message. “If you manage your media business strictly to make a profit, Julia Child and Mr. Rogers are not going to be on television,” he says.

Kimball, the creator of popular PBS programs America’s Test Kitchen and Milk Street Television, talks about exploring international food culture. “It’s always changing, that’s what’s exciting; the world isn’t what you thought,” he notes. “That’s what public media is really all about, revealing and exploring and giving people a sense that there’s always something to learn,” concludes Abbott.

Listen to this engaging conversation as three thought leaders discuss the pitfalls and possibilities of the information age.

Where would we be without immigrants? RefugePoint founder and executive director Sasha Chanoff and Chickadee owner and executive chef John daSilva join host Billy Shore in Boston to discuss the hardships faced by immigrants and refugees and the promise and strength they bring to their new homes. “Refugees do revitalize cities – like Lewiston, Maine, or St. Louis, Missouri – that were on the decline and Somalis and Bosnians moved in and started businesses,” Chanoff explains. “Immigrant workers make up 30% of the workforce [at Chickadee]. If you take away 30% of the workforce in a workforce-depleted industry, the effects would be devastating,” observes daSilva.

Chanoff shares a harrowing tale about rescuing hundreds of massacre survivors in war-torn Congo early in his career. “I was struck viscerally by this idea that if I could play a very small role in helping somebody who had gone through a lot of trauma and terror, and often lost so much in their lives… that was the most important thing I could do,” he says. “These people working for me are just doing the best that they can, working as hard as they can. How could we turn our backs on them? We need them,” concludes daSilva.